


Robbing Graves and Stealing Hearts

by andamiro (arysthaeniru)



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: M/M, around the time when the egyptology craze was big, set in cairo around 1920s
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-26
Updated: 2014-12-26
Packaged: 2018-03-02 18:24:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2821826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arysthaeniru/pseuds/andamiro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Echizen hadn't really expected this robbery to be easy, but this was a misstep beyond his imagination. How exactly did he get roped into hiking across the Sahara to find the tomb of Queen Nefertiti?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Robbing Graves and Stealing Hearts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tenipurinobeamuu](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=tenipurinobeamuu).



> I know very little about tombs and tomb raiding, so....DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME, FRIENDS. This is also not entirely historically accurate either, though I did some period research. 
> 
> Merry Christmas, Beam! I hope you enjoy this (not so) Secret Santa present!

The day was hot and Echizen yearned to just pull off the hot and constraining jacket draped over his shoulders. He wasn’t used to wearing the layers that most of the fancy foreign people around here did, but he had to do what he could to survive. And currently, survival required money and to get that money, he had to look inconspicuous. In a rich bastard area, he had to blend in and look like a rich bastard himself.

It had been relatively easy to get the jacket from a foreign schoolkid who’d been passed out with his friends after getting drunk for the first time, but it was more difficult to wear it, when he was used to a simple cotton shirt, caked with a year’s worth of dust. His eyes flickered to across the street where Kaidou and Momo were waiting for his signal to start the distraction so they could rob the old widow’s house.

He just needed to wait for the widow lady to start snoring from the window across from him. It wasn’t going to be easy to break into that house when she was asleep, it would be even more difficult if she was awake. Echizen stuck his hands in his pockets and waited, his eyes trained on the window, while still looking suitably bored and foppish. His eyesight was one of the best, throughout the city’s group of thieves and street brats. It was why he always got recruited for heists like this. 

This one had been a favour to Kaidou and Momo who’d gotten him out of a tough spot before, and even if it hadn’t been, Echizen wouldn’t have minded doing it, if for a higher cut. Fact was, this was the only bit of fun and thrill you could ever get as a poor kid on the streets. And well, Echizen was the best thief out there, and he wanted to have fun too. 

Finally, he saw her head droop off and he nodded at Kaidou and Momo, before crossing the street haughtily, as if he was a rich fancy lord with important business. Almost instantly, Kaidou and Momo started fighting and yelling and generally drawing attention. In the midst of all of that commotion, no one noticed Echizen walking into the garden of the house, with a large steak coming out of the inner jacket of the coat. 

The coat smelled awful now, but it was worth it, as the dog inside the yard, instead of jumping at him and mauling him, just stopped and stared at the meat. Echizen smirked. In the end, no matter how well-trained they were, animals were still animals and would always respond to food and drink. 

“Who’s a good boy?” asked Echizen as he ripped off a few little scraps and let the dog eat. He then edged closer and closer to the dog. It growled a little at him, as if warning him, but its eyes were trained on the meat. Echizen smirked, and ripped off a little more to throw at the dog, until he was able to shuffle right next to the beast.

He scratched at the dog’s ears and the dog rumbled happily, as he it sat down and let Echizen ruffle its fur. “You’re a good boy, yes you are.” said Echizen, with a content grin, as he dropped the steak down and went for the wall of the house. Now, it would always let him in, without a trouble. Animals remembered kindness. 

He glanced behind him quickly. Momo and Kaidou had managed to get other people involved in the brawl, which meant he would have more time. Echizen smirked and scrambled up the house using the drainage pipe and the holes in the brick for support. 

With a slight puff of breath, Echizen dropped in through the window. As expected, the widow was dead asleep and it was easy to take the keys from her belt, without her even moving. Echizen smirked softly, as he quietly walked away from the study, careful to not disturb anything to try and get to the jewels. 

It was a fine house, with books everywhere, and fine furniture and pretty vases. It was the sort of house that most of the girls on the street would murder to live in. Echizen didn’t think he’d ever be content with something as bland as this for his life forever, but he could get used to actually knowing where his bed would be every day. 

Now, where had Momo and Kaidou said that the safe would be...? Behind something in the bedroom wall, right? Echizen scanned the well-decorated room quickly, whirling around the room to change his angles and his ability to notice things and smirked upon seeing the painting above the bed jut out a little. He clambered onto the bouncy and soft bed, and with a slight grunt at the weight, lifted off the heavy painting from the wall. As expected, the safe was here.

According to Momo and Kaidou, who’d been doing surveillance for longer than Echizen had, the combination was 071101. Echizen wasn’t quite sure how they had known, since the combination lock was nowhere near a window, but somehow they had found out. It was impressive, really. Echizen twisted the locks and waited with bated breath, as the safe clicked open and the jewels spilled out of the safe. 

They were beautiful, glinting in the light, with fine craftsmanship that rivalled little else. The gaudy trinkets of the pawn shops seemed insignificant in the light of these jewels. Well hello. Echizen stuffed the jewels into his coat and his pockets and finally just carrying the last of them, before shutting the safe and carefully replacing the painting on its rack. There. The room looked untouched. Good.

Echizen crept out of the bedroom and back towards the study, so he could get out through the window again and leave.

“Mother, where did you say that the book on the m--” Echizen’s eyes widened and he froze in place, as an unknown man walked into his path, looking slightly absent-minded, with glasses perched on his nose and a tucked-in lilac shirt. He looked all sorts of proper, and sort of regal, like few boys on the street ever did, but more than that, Echizen noticed that he _wasn’t supposed to be here!_ The widow was supposed to be all on her lonesome! That was what Kaidou and Momo had promised! Had they screwed up on their surveillance? After getting every other detail right?

“Who are you?” asked the fine man, looking stern, probably confused by Echizen’s nice clothing and Echizen took that opportunity to bolt back towards the window and drop himself out of it, to the confusion of the dog gnawing on the remnants of the meat. The man’s shout of surprise woke up the widow, which caused more noise. To his horror, the police had arrived to apprehend Kaidou and Momo already and as they saw him drop out of the house’s window, they started running in his direction.

Shit. This wasn’t going to plan at all. And it was all those idiots’ fault! Basic research about a heist! That was simple stuff! They should have told him about a possibility of another person being here!

Echizen sprinted quickly in the opposite direction to the bobbies, his scrawny limbs pumping himself away from the trouble. He wasn’t getting caught for Kaidou and Momo, not a chance. Not if he could get away. Still, with a grunt, he felt himself pushed to the ground, as the bobbies caught up with him and wrested the jewels from his hands. To his surprise, he wasn’t immediately beat up by batons, just held down against the floor, by rough hands. There were low murmurings from behind him and Echizen worried about exactly what was going to happen, but instead, he got pulled up. 

The thin, glasses-man looked a little disheveled, his hair slightly more puffy than before, but didn’t look out of breath to have chased Echizen down. “What was your purpose in entering my house?”

“To steal, Mr. Tezuka.” said the bobby gripping his left side, with a sneer. “What else did you think? This one’s even famous for it! Prince of Cairo, they call him. Scum of Cairo, I say.”

Echizen didn’t answer the original question, just glared up at the man, defiantly, swallowing a little from the adrenaline still pumping in his veins. Prince of Cairo? What a ridiculous nickname for a streetrat. He’d never heard it before, but it was weird to know what people said about him. As he glared up with as much defiance as he could muster, he noticed that somewhere along the way, his hat had fallen off, and his green-black hair was in his face. The man’s gaze over Echizen’s face was intense and disapproving, with pursed lips, before he looked away from Echizen, dismissively. “Well then, officers, if you’d release him into my care? I’d rather he see justice from my hand.” he said, coolly. 

The bobbies gave ‘Tezuka’ a weird look, but after a slight cough from Tezuka, they handed over Echizen to Tezuka. Tezuka let go of him immediately, striding back towards to his house, with the implicit demand that Echizen follow, in his comportment. Echizen didn’t follow just anybody. He was a lone wolf, and only joined people when he was bored. Still, the man had just let him go and trusted him to follow and not just run away. And that was more trust than anyone had ever extended to a street kid, ‘Prince of Cairo’ or not. 

Echizen clicked his tongue and strolled back after Tezuka, his shoulders hunched in and his hands in his pockets. Momo and Kaidou gaped after him as he walked over to Tezuka’s house. They were being fined, but Echizen had no sympathy for them. They deserved it for not doing their research and endangering this whole thing. Besides, Tezuka was waiting at the door of the huge house, with a slightly disapproving look on his face.

Dreading the outcome a little. Echizen walked into the house of his own accord and let the door shut behind him.

“What is your name?” asked Tezuka, quietly, as Echizen removed his shoes. Tezuka wasn’t wearing any shoes, from his quick descent to chase after Echizen, and his socks were dusty from the Cairo sand that permeated everywhere, no matter how rich you were. 

Echizen was about to flippantly give him one of his many fake names, but the words died on his lips when he looked up to meet Tezuka’s stern gaze. “Echizen Ryoma.” he said, jerkily, and almost unwillingly, feeling outraged at his mouth betraying him. 

“How old are you?” asked Tezuka, as he continued walking through his house, removing his soiled socks and folding them neatly in his hands, as he walked. Echizen followed, feeling awkward inside this large house, now that he wasn’t robbing from it. 

“Sixteen.” he said, shortly, looking away from Tezuka as he answered. Another truth. If he said one more thing that was true in a row to a stranger, it would probably be a record or something. 

There was silence for a moment and Echizen looked back at Tezuka, with a glare. Tezuka’s look was more contemplative than anything sterner. “Follow me.” he said, as he strode up the stairs and Echizen walked after him. He blinked as Tezuka gestured towards the bathroom. “Take a bath.” he said, as he walked towards a cupboard, Neatly folded clothes were stacked up against the sides and he rummaged through them with a precise manner, pulling out some slightly faded but nice clothes. “These should fit you.” he said, calmly. “There are towels inside and there is some hot water already prepared.”

What? Echizen let a little surprise touch his face as he stared down at the clothes that Tezuka was offering him. What the hell was going on? 

“They won’t bite.” said Tezuka, dryly, as Echizen finally accepted the clothes, with a distrustful glance at Tezuka. What sort of person gave a robber clothes after the robber had attempted to rob them dry? “‘When you’re done, go to the room where you initially entered.” he said, coolly. “You know where it is, I presume.”

Tezuka then walked away from Echizen and Echizen glanced down at his clothes and the open bathroom, with more than a little bit of incredulity over his expression. Well, he wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to take a bath. 

-

Echizen decided very quickly that he liked baths. He liked the warm water against his skin, the feeling of scrubbing his skin raw and watching the dead skin and dirt peel away from his skin, the minute sounds of the water splashing in the tub and the peacefulness. It was sort of a shame when the water got cold against his skin and he had to pour it away. He remembered baths vaguely from when he’d still had a house and he’d liked them then, too. But, it was nicer now. Better than hasty washes in the Nile and sudden showers in the cold pots of water from the springs when he got really dirty inbetween weeks. 

The offered clothes were too long on Echizen, but they were better than his stolen rich-people clothes for clinging to his skinny figure. He shuffled out of the bathroom with his wet towel, wondering briefly what to do with the foreign kid’s clothes, before abandoning them on the bathroom counter. With a slight bit of apprehension, he made his way back to the library room where the old widow had been. Tezuka was talking to her lowly, crouched down next to her rocking chair, to talk to her eye-to-eye, nodding sincerely.

His expressions closed off a little as he noticed Echizen at the door, but he nodded his recognition of Echizen. The widow craned around, and her aged face burst into a well-natured smile. Echizen felt a little taken aback. Nobody ever smiled that widely to see a street-brat. Most street brats didn’t smile that wide to see each other, and especially not to see Echizen, whom most disliked. 

 

“Goodness, he’s even smaller than you were at his age, Kunimitsu. Is this your new protege?” she asked, kindly and Echizen felt the guilt twist in his stomach. She didn’t know he’d tried to rob her and once she did, she would definitely stop smiling. 

“Something like that.” said Tezuka and Echizen’s eyes moved to Tezuka, with a confused frown. What? He wasn’t the old man’s apprentice! Why was Tezuka lying? Tezuka was so confusing and he really wanted an explanation.

“Mind telling me what you want from me?” asked Echizen petulantly, sticking his hands into his pockets. There, vague enough that the widow wouldn’t catch on and enough that Tezuka would hopefully say something useful. 

“Oh, Kunimitsu, you didn’t even tell him what you wanted him to help you with?” she reprimanded, with a frown, as she adjusted her shawl. “Communication is key for matters like this.”

Tezuka just nodded, as he straightened upwards. “Yes, I understand. Thank you for your time, mother. I’ll talk to our guest in the drawing room.” he said, quickly striding out. Echizen glanced after him, gave the widow a tiny nod, before following, as slowly as he could. 

“Protege?” demanded Echizen, as he clattered down the stairs, after Tezuka’s stiff, straight back. 

“Have you heard of Tutankhamun and Nefertiti?” asked Tezuka, seeming to ignore whatever Echizen had just said. 

“The dude and his wife who built the pyramids, what idiot hasn’t?” asked Echizen, boredly. 

“Not quite.” corrected Tezuka, as he ushered Echizen into a clean room with just a large table and chairs. “The Pyramids of Giza were built by Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, and they are quite an archaeological feat, but not built by Tutankhamun. Neither was Nefertiti his wife, she was his adoptive mother.” 

“So?” asked Echizen, as he took a seat and crossed his arms. He wasn’t here for a history lesson that may as well have been useless on the streets. 

“The pyramids are tombs. Howard Carter claims to have found Tutankhamen’s tomb and he certainly brings enough proof with gold and old scrolls, but no female remains were found inside of Tutankhamen's tomb. That means that his mother, who was a rich and powerful queen, still has a tomb out there.” said Tezuka quietly. “I believe that I may have found it.”

“Good for you.” said Echizen, pulling a face. What, was Tezuka expecting a prize or something? Big deal, he found a tomb. Who _wanted_ to find dead people, anyway? That was usually what ruined Echizen’s day when he was roaming the streets. 

Tezuka’s glare made Echizen straighten a little, but he didn’t let go of his defiant scowl. What? He didn’t like exposition. “Most egyptian tombs were rather protective of their property. They were good at traps because they believed that your body was the way to the afterlife and didn’t want their bodies to be disturbed and their happiness in the afterlife to be disturbed either. It’s quite the challenge to get to it.” said Tezuka, carefully, and despite himself, Echizen felt himself perk up at the word challenge.

“What sort of challenge?” he demanded, as he leant forward a little onto the pristine white tablecloth. Tezuka gave him a long stare, before his lips twitched, into what could have been a smile.

“Death defying-challenges. All sorts of hidden traps that you cannot spring in fear of unleashing weapons. A maze with no map and perhaps no ending. A long and arduous trek to reach the tomb. Some say it’s impossible.” Tezuka replied, his face even and his eyes steady. Echizen tugged at his bottom lip with his teeth. 

He was being played. Already. By a complete stranger. But what did he have to lose in this? He laughed in the face of almost death. “Fine, I’ll help you get into the tomb. But you said treasure. I want a cut of the money.” said Echizen, simply, as he leant back against the chair. 

Tezuka’s face was impassive. “After I have documented the items there, the ones of least archaeological value may be passed onto you.” he said, stiffly, and that sounded like a way to get cheated, really, but Echizen was bored and he owed this guy a debt for getting him out of the hands of the bobbies and giving him clothing and a bath....

“Deal.” said Echizen, spitting into his hand and holding it out. Tezuka didn’t spit into his own hand, but he didn’t hesitate in gripping Echizen’s hand, in a firm grip. 

“Deal.” said Tezuka, gravely. “We’ll depart the day after tomorrow. You can stay here if you like or go back to your home.”

It wasn’t like he had a house or anything all that valuable to get from his hiding-hole. All that Echizen ever needed were his smarts and his own ten fingers. “Nothing better to do than stay here, I guess.” said Echizen, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I’ll stick around.”

-

It was awkward to hang around the house and Echizen quickly started regretting his decision to stay. The widow was just too nice, as she tried to feed him up and complimented him, while stroking his hair and calling him a nice boy. It honestly made him severely comfortable. Not just because she was touching him and Echizen didn’t like much unnecessary contact, but also because every time she smiled at him, the guilt twisted at his stomach.He’d never had to stay near the person he’d tried to rob. 

All the rich fobs and foreigners were the reason for kids in the street being dirt-poor. Everyone knew that. Still, it was weird to see them as actually nice. Echizen had met so many rich people, who’d not even given the poor kids their time of day, some outrightly harassing them for daring to stand around buildings in winter. And then there was this lady, who was so kind to someone she thought was her own kind. 

He sort of wondered whether she’d feel the same way if she knew that he was a poor kid and that she’d tried to rob him, but still, those words never made it out of his mouth. Instead, he just excused himself from the house, to walk around the city for a bit and clear his mind. 

What was he doing on an archaeological mission? He didn’t know the first thing about it. He barely knew the history of Cairo, despite having slogged in these streets for so long. Nobody educated the poor people. What if he accidentally destroyed one of those valuable things that Tezuka had been talking about? Not that Echizen was that accidentally clumsy, but what if he was defending against danger and he destroyed something?

He pulled a face and kicked one of the rocks in the street, moodily. Whatever. It was Tezuka’s fault for hiring him. He was getting money and adventure out of this. Fine.

He didn’t like feeling this conflicted. Or this hot. The jacket really was the most stifling thing on his shoulder. He didn’t know how foreigners wore these around here. He knew that some of the people exiting the government buildings always complained about it being so much warmer here than in Germany and England, those faraway places that Echizen couldn’t even really imagine, but then why would they continue to wear cold weather clothing? Some foreigners really didn’t make sense. 

Still, despite his discomfort outside, it was infinitely better than going back and sitting with the widow, so he wandered the streets, enduring his sweat and his tight armpits until nightfall, where he made it back to the house. The door was opened by the old widow, looking set to go to sleep. “Oh, you’re here. Kunimitsu’s in the drawing room, but I warn you, he’s in a meeting. Very important.” she said, with a soft chuckle. “I’d go straight to bed after saying goodnight. You do leave tomorrow after all, and you should be well-rested.”

She patted his head and Echizen resisted the urge to squirm away from her touch, preferring to just nod, awkwardly and make a weird almost-bow gesture. She smiled even wider at that and Echizen fled to the drawing room, pausing before entering as he noticed how crowded the table was now, with old foreigners. 

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, Tezuka. What you’ve found cannot possibly be the tomb of Nefertiti. She simply wasn’t important enough to merit a tomb.” sniffed one of the men wearing a purple cravat. He spoke proper english, like from government buildings, but Echizen knew English fairly well, so it was still easy to understand. 

One of the younger men at the table snorted softly. “You are applying your values to another time. Cleopatra was the most powerful women in Ancient Egypt, and when Tutankhamun was young, so was Nefertiti.” he said, his lightly accented voice soft, as his blue hair flopped forward. “Your Queen Victoria rules the great British Empire now and people will mourn her death, why not Nefertiti?”

The man with the purple cravat sniffed and stilled, looking quite admonished. The man with blue hair just smirked, as he crossed his fingers together. “That being said, I have to agree with the conclusion that it isn’t Nefertiti’s tomb. She was well-loved and this is too hidden, too secretive. I wouldn’t advise the mission, it may just be a fools-errand.”

Echizen’s eyes flickered to Tezuka, whose face was still and carefully fixed in place. Behind that, he must have been annoyed. Still, despite other people turning to look at him and his reaction, he said nothing in response to the blue-haired man’s words, which earned him some very respectful nods. 

Another older man, with greying black hair tilted his chin up, as his ponytail drooped over his white coat. “Your numerous hunches on archaeological findings have been very valuable to this community, but Tezuka, you are an expert at dating and recognizing the objects found in the tombs. Leave the tomb-discoveries to the experts.” Echizen could practically feel the patronization seeping out of the rich man in waves.

Tezuka’s jaw tightened slightly there, which was more emotion than Echizen had been expecting.

“Besides,” added a blonde, tall stranger, with a serious cut face. “What native would take you out into the vast expanses of the Sahara? They are cowards here, they will barely leave Cairo if they can help it.”

Echizen’s eyebrows pulled down momentarily at that slight, before he cleared his face to a casually arrogant look. “This native’s taking him out there.” said Echizen, coolly, also in his English, which was far better than any of the normal street kids. “So that much of your point is gone.” he said, with a shrug, grinning a little as everyone’s gazes turned to his tanned skin and too-large clothing. 

“And what was that beforehand? His hunches have been right before? Seems sorta stupid to ignore it because you already have preconceived ideas about Nefertiti.” said Echizen, with a shrug, his gaze meeting Tezuka’s with a slightly amused expression, at how some were gaping at him. 

Before anyone could talk, he raised his hand. “Night, Mr. Tezuka, I’m going to bed.” he said, and slipped out of the room, feeling very smug at their bewildered expressions. He wondered how cowardly the foreigners would be without food or drink or even a decent shelter over their heads, every night. What fool would risk their life for a history that mattered little to them? Life inside the city was terrible, but it was still life. Only a rich fool would go on a mission like this. 

Or adventure-seeking fools like himself. What did he know about surviving in a desert anyway? He and Tezuka were probably going to die within the first three days, Echizen mused darkly, as he headed to the room with the spare bed. That was how long you could go without water, wasn’t it?

He glanced down at the soft, downy bed, illuminated by the light of the half-moon and threw himself down inside the thick covers, ready to try and rest for his eventual death. Just as he was about to doze off, the lights inside his room were switched on and Tezuka entered the room, looking slightly less put-together. 

“Echizen, wake up.” said Tezuka, as Echizen made a sleepy noise and tugged the blanket over his head. 

The blanket was pulled away from his head and Echizen blinked up at Tezuka and the light, glaring petulantly. “We have guests.” said Tezuka and Echizen groaned even further. 

“They’re not gone yet?” he asked, trying to burrow down into the sheets.

“The majority of them have left, but I need you to meet two of them.” commanded Tezuka, in that ‘i am the leader’ voice and Echizen groaned, as he shakily sat up in bed, rubbed at his drooping eyes and smoothed down his hair. He pulled a last, pouting face at Tezuka, but Tezuka seemed unaffected as he pulled Echizen up bodily, before striding out of the room. Echizen was tempted to collapse back into the bed, but shuffled after Tezuka, down to the drawing room. 

The blue-haired man who’d been speaking before, seated in a wheelchair and an unfamiliar blond, regal-looking man waited inside the room, poring over a map with Tezuka and Echizen joined them, leaning over the blue-haired man’s shoulder. “Forty miles out,” said the blond man, his accent crisp. “It will be a long trip, even by camel.”

“Tu veux vraiment partir demain, avec cet enfant, Tezuka?” asked the blue-haired man. Echizen gritted his teeth at the deliberate exclusion from the conversation, but ignored him as he looked down at the map, trying to read it. 

“I will leave tomorrow with Echizen.” said Tezuka, in english, which made Echizen feel a little better. “And I will return within a month. It is not so far.” He looked quite confident, as he straightened up. “Echizen, these two are Monsieur Yukimura from France,” he said, motioning the wheelchair bound man, “And Lord Atobe from the Queen’s Court in England.” he said, nodding to the blond man. “Gentlemen, this is my escort to the tomb tomorrow, Echizen Ryoma.”

Atobe’s blue eyes focused on Echizen, with keen interest upon hearing Echizen’s name and Echizen frowned a little, as he glanced down at the map again. He couldn’t read much of it. He could barely read arabic, let alone english. 

“Pleasure.” said Yukimura, with a nod, though it didn’t quite seem sincere. 

Echizen just frowned more. “What did you want?” he demanded Tezuka, with a frown, ignoring the others in the room. “For me to keep the map or something? Worried you’ll lose it?”

“Both Atobe and Yukimura have previously discovered tombs in their lives. You need to know the dangers that await you. Atobe, Yukimura, do you mind?” he asked, in a way that implied that it wasn't really a question at all.

“You have never robbed a tomb before?” asked Atobe, his voice sharper now. “Tezuka, this is folly.” he declared, with a shake of his hands, his face quite worried. 

Yukimura’s gaze however, was solely on Echizen and Echizen glared back. What? Then Yukimura smirked, softly and leant forward. “There are several boulder traps. The egyptians were masters at controlling structures that were much much larger than them. We assume that it is through pulleys, but even our best deductions cannot figure out exactly how they built the pyramids.” Yukimura reached for another piece of paper, with a little difficulty and drew a small sign on it, with neat handwriting. “Look for these on the walls, and be careful to not step on anything with the same sign as this on the floor, unless you want to activate it.”

“Also, avoid poisoned weapons and weapons in general. That’s what put me in this.” said Yukimura, his smile brittle as he gestured at his wheelchair. “The weapons are still sharp and the poison spreads quickly and either requires amputation or spreads through the entire body to kill you. Mine was the first, thankfully, but you don’t want the latter. It’s easier to spot weapons without hieroglyphics to mark them, the walls jut out more and there are usually spots where you can see the weapons jutting out. To not get hit, activate the weapons first, by throwing rocks onto the floor ahead of you, then keep walking.”

Atobe gave Yukimura a look of slight confusion, threw a slightly unhappy look towards Tezuka, before shaking his head and grabbing Yukimura’s piece of paper. “Insects can come flying at you from hidden panels. Carter claims that they can rip off your skin because of the curse on tombs, which is untrue, but they can cloud your vision, set off another trap or send you down the wrong path. The insects are almost completely hidden, but you will usually find them around corners or any areas where you have a choice of where to turn. This is the hieroglyphic you will see at least five metres before you hit the panel where it will be. Again, don’t step on the panel.”

“There’s a fine dust, hematite powder, which can kill you when inhaled too much. It’s usually throughout the entire tomb so there’s no way to avoid it. Go in with a cloth around your face unless you want to die from asphyxiation.” Yukimura said, coolly.

Echizen nodded, blankly, as his eyes darted back to Atobe. 

“Pits.” said Atobe. “There’s no warning for these because the egyptians knew they were there, but they are long drops and there are sharp spikes. If you find one, it’s usually a dead end and you have taken a wrong route somewhere. Don’t fall down.”

“Same goes for the wires.” said Yukimura, with an uneasy frown. “I’ve lost too many partners to their carelessness when they walked straight into one. You’ll lack a head if you do. Still, you will know that you are going in the right way, that means you are close.”

Well. That was involved. Moreso than just house-robbing but Echizen was the best at house-robbing. It wouldn’t be hard to adjust, he just had to remember the weird symbols they’d written for him. “Shouldn’t be too hard.” he said, nonchalantly, as he took the paper from Atobe’s hands and looked over the symbols. He couldn’t really read, but if he looked at enough, he’d be able to memorize, like he’d memorized the letter arrangement for police. 

As if he needed more ways to die than getting lost in the desert or thirst. 

Yukimura and Atobe both laughed, shortly. “Good luck, Tezuka. You’ll need it.” said Yukimura, dryly. “I’m off.” He wheeled out of the room, with an ease that came from years of experience. 

“If I could help any more, I would.” said Atobe, his face concerned, as he squeezed Tezuka’s hand. “But the council are already nervous about my father infringing upon their opinions and Shishido’s still in hospital. My place is here.”

Tezuka just shook his head and let go of Atobe’s hand, coolly. “Your help so far has been more than enough. Thank you, Atobe.” he said, sincerely. It was warmer than Echizen had seen Tezuka been yet. These two were close friends, then?

Atobe smiled, warmly. “If it is indeed Nefertiti’s tomb, then dinner will be on me.” he said, as he too departed, his stride quick and confident. Tezuka exhaled slightly as he watched them go. 

Echizen yawned, loudly, as he pocketed the slip of paper and stared back up at Tezuka, who suddenly looked sort of tired. “I can go back to bed now?” he asked, rubbing his eyes. Tezuka nodded.

“Sleep well, Echizen.” he said, as he took a seat at the table, and opened a thick tome. Echizen tossed him a concerned look, but didn’t dwell on it as he want back to the warm, soft bed which was calling his name. 

-

They started at night the following day, with camels and maps loading them down. Tezuka had insisted that they travel at night to avoid the heat of the Sahara and Echizen thought it was for the best. He struggled enough with the heat of Cairo, where he could duck under sagging awnings and exchange small talk with vendors who sometimes gave him a drink; exactly how was he supposed to deal with the Sahara in broad daylight?

Still, it meant that their journey wasn’t well illuminated, as they stumbled across the desert, trying to avoid the creatures that came out at night. They also couldn’t use camels, who preferred to sleep at night, which meant that this was a journey entirely on feet. It hadn’t even been four hours, and Echizen’s legs felt like the weighing scales in the fish markets. 

It took all of Echizen’s stubbornness to even keep walking, but his exertion was probably clear to anyone to watching, by his red face and sweat. To Echizen’s chagrin, Tezuka didn’t even seemed fazed, keeping his stride even and clear as he used his compass, the stars and the maps to guide him, with an ease that Echizen sort of envied. He could walk like that through the streets (Prince of Cairo was sort of appropriate there, he mused), but he’d never touched the desert and it showed. 

“Would you like to take a break, Echizen?” Tezuka asked, without even turning around, as Echizen almost tripped over a desert mouse, whose eyes were frankly terrifying. Even the street rats hadn’t looked that terrifying, and they grew to the sizes of small housecats. 

“No, I’m fine.” lied Echizen, as he glared at the mouse retreating back into its sand dune. He could keep walking. He was a street kid, he was supposed to be better at this than a rich bloke. He could keep walking. 

“We’ll take one, anyway.” said Tezuka, as he removed his backpack, and carefully took a seat on the sand, closing his eyes momentarily. Echizen scowled a little, but after a moment, he too dropped to the sand, and started to massage his legs. There was silence between them as they both greedily drunk some water and stretched a little bit. 

Tezuka looked quite tired, now that Echizen could see his face and it made him wonder. “Hey, Mr. Tezuka.” he asked, in as casual a voice as he could manage. “Why’d you bring me along anyway? Mon-chew Yukimura was right, yanno, I’m a street-rat, not a tomb-robber.”

Tezuka’s eyes opened and his brown eyes, from under the screen of his frosted glasses, met Echizen’s. “You’re small enough to fit under the tomb.” he said, finally, clearly having carefully considered his answer. Echizen watched his face for any hints of what else the man was thinking, but received nothing for his troubles. With a slightly disgusted sigh, he tipped his head back, watching his hat fall off his head. 

“Geez, you could have waited ten years until you were fifty, people start shrinking after that point What a trouble...” he muttered, darkly. 

“Fifty? In ten years?” asked Tezuka, sounding vaguely amused, and Echizen brought his head back up with a frown.

“You’re not forty?” he demanded, staring at the man, with a confused look. 

“I’m twenty two.” said Tezuka, as he adjusted his glasses. Echizen gaped at him, forgetting his normal unruffled composure. That couldn’t be right. There was no way that Tezuka was only six years older than him. The man had commanded so much respect from the other people at the council. Besides, hadn’t they said that he someone who did several findings? How could someone who was only twenty-two do that much...?

“You’re lying.” he said, flatly, lifting a finger and jabbing it in Tezuka’s direction. 

Tezuka’s face pulled into a slightly disapproving expression. “Ask my mother when we return, if it troubles you so. Does my age or your age matter in this venture?”

“Not really, but it’s weird.” said Echizen, almost instantly, as he glanced at Tezuka’s face a little more closely. Okay, he could sorta see a too-old-twenty, but his face had such deep frown lines when he did frown that it made him look older. When he was impassive though, he looked just as young as Echizen. “You ought to sleep more, Mr. Tezuka. Gals on the streets always said that more sleep means less wrinkles.” he said, with a cocky grin, as he reclaimed his hat. “You know, old people need their rest and all.”

Tezuka rolled his eyes. “I suppose that means we can get started again now, if your youth and vitality is so strong.” he said, as he straightened up. 

...that was a twisted sense of humour. Echizen pushed himself up to his feet, wincing a little at the tingles of pain that ran their way down his thighs. Only a week more of walking to even reach the tomb, wonderful. “Fine.” he snapped, as he strode away from Tezuka, for a good ten metres, before realizing that he was going in the wrong direction.

Tezuka’s lips were pressed together tightly as Echizen stormed back to him. “Not a word.” demanded Echizen, as he walked in the right direction, feeling his face burn. Thank god, it was dark and Tezuka seemed willing to drop it. 

-

As the dawn of the first day, arrived, Echizen was ready to set up camp and die. But Tezuka still pressed forward. “A little more, Echizen.” he urged as Echizen’s steps faltered. “We cannot start setting up a shelter until after dawn, because the nocturnal animals may yet crawl into our shelters unless we give them all time to fall asleep.”

Echizen grunted his assent and kept walking forward, but Tezuka slowed his stride a little, until they fell into tandem step. Even Tezuka looked a little tired, but much less than Echizen did.

“Did you use to do this beforehand?” asked Echizen, trying to ignore the fact that Tezuka’s elbow was right there as a stabilizer balance. His pride wouldn’t let him take help from a rich fop. “You knew how to navigate and when to travel.”

“I grew up in Germany. I spent a lot of my childhood running and climbing mountains. This is a little different to a mountain, but it’s the same principle of walk steady and true.” Tezuka confided. “As for the tips about the desert, that comes from other explorers and people that regularly traverse the desert.” 

Germany. A foreign country, Echizen supposed, with lots of mountains. What were mountains, he wondered? “Germany?” asked Echizen, letting his curiosity take over him. They had some more distance to walk and he needed a reason to keep awake and alert. A conversation seemed as good a device as anything. “What’s it like there?”

His face softened a little more and his eyes turned down to the sand, as he gathered his thoughts. “Nothing like Cairo.” Tezuka said, finally. “Where I lived, it was green pastures and old, tall steeple chapels. There’s a different style of building there, we use wood instead of stone. It’s always wet, and sometimes quite cold, too.” he explained, softly. “It’s more peaceful and quiet. There are less people in general.”

Less people. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? It felt like a bad thing. Silence meant death, like the silent expanse of the Sahara. Echizen’s childhood had been spent running through the street and hearing the commotion of the daily dawn market, and people praying in tandem and the sounds of construction and people talking and living. Cairo sounded like life. 

“Which place do you like better than?” asked Echizen, curiously, as the sun started to come up from behind them and cast long dark shadows ahead of them. 

Tezuka was silent for a long while, as Echizen struggled to get his footing in the loose sands. He was bonewearily tired and he knew that he wouldn’t want to get up again when it came around to it. Finally, as the sun really started to warm their back, Tezuka spoke up. “I think I may prefer Cairo a little.” he said, and Echizen found himself smiling at that. He didn’t know anywhere else, but Cairo was home and it was nice to know that someone else thought it was amazing. 

“We gonna set up camp now?” asked Echizen, as he plucked at his shirt. He was starting to sweat just a little and the sun was getting just a bit too bright. 

Tezuka nodded, as they headed towards a particularly tall sand dune, and he pulled out the ten contraption thing. Echizen gave it a once-over and shook his head, “That’s not going to stand up in sand, is it?” he said, as Tezuka knelt down to unfold it. 

With a sharp stab downwards, Tezuka drove the pole into the ground. It stood. Echizen shrugged. Okay then. 

-

With a small sigh, Echizen massaged the back of his head as they kept walking. It was the third day and he was really getting fed up of sand and silence. The silence of the desert was oppressive and Tezuka wasn’t exactly a very talkative companion, speaking only to warn Echizen of dangers or to give orders about breaks and setting up things. 

It was driving Echizen crazy and he was seriously starting to doubt his own sanity. Even if it saved water thanks to lack of talking, it wasn’t doing much for his mental state. 

“Hey.” he said, finally, after another ten minutes of silence. “What made you so interested in history anyway?”

Tezuka turned to him, looking marginally surprised and Echizen felt proud for even instigating that. “History is a key to our future.” he said, finally. “The study of history is the study of people. By looking at ancient civilizations and analysing how they lived, we try and see what decisions are the best to make, in order to improve our own lives.” Tezuka answered finally, as he adjusted his hat and shirt. 

Well, that sounded good in theory, didn’t it? “So robbing tombs is the best way to do that?” asked Echizen, with a slight smirk, and received a glare for his troubles.

“They’re dead. What are they going to do with their information, Echizen?” he asked, sharply. “Are their mummified skeletons going to start feeling bored and read some of the novels left there?” Ouch. That had hit a nerve, hadn’t it?

“You hear the question, a lot, huh?” asked Echizen, with a slight lift of his eyebrows, as he pulled his slight uncooperative feet through the sand. 

“Something like that. Some of the historians back in Germany like to keep their hands clean or any sort of work like this. But there is no information to be found through that and without missions like this, they would have nothing to analyse.” said Tezuka coolly. “Only he who tries will succeed.”

Heh, that sounded familiar. “It’s self-satisfaction.” said Echizen, with a bored sigh. “It’s a menial job that you’re doing, so they won’t show their gratefulness, just put you down to make their empty lives feel better. That’s how it always works in life.” It was the whole attitude of rich people versus poor people. When the street kids got honest jobs like shoe-shining and house cleaning, they were always treated like worse than filth for the audacity to be poor and be stuck doing jobs that required brute strength, but without poor people doing the menial labour, how would the rich people survive?

Tezuka gave him another look in return, one that spoke volumes, despite his frosted glasses and the dark sky around them. “You sound like you have heard that often.”

“I live it. You think you have it bad, it’s ten times worse when you’re native and poor.” Echizen said, darkly, as they lapsed back into silence. Maybe no conversation was better between them, after all. 

“...is that why you started robbery?” asked Tezuka finally, his hands adjusting on the straps of his backpack as he walked, and Echizen almost fell over from surprise. Tezuka had initiated conversation?

“Nah, robbery’s a survival strategy. Honest work earns you pittance. And rich people make a big fuss about it going missing, but in the end, they won’t miss it.” said Echizen, with a shrug. “It keeps clothes on your back and some extra food or bargaining ground with the other people around here.”

“But you enjoy it.” approximated Tezuka, his voice simultaneously even and challenging, and Echizen tilted his head slightly. Exactly how had the rich foreigner managed to profile him so completely? It didn’t make sense to him. It took Echizen lots of careful observations about people to form opinions on them. Was he just bluffing and somehow guessing right?

“Yeah, I guess. Only sort of fun you can have, right?” Echizen, said, with a shrug. “Do what you love, love what you do.” he said, in the proper english that the businessmen sometime said, as they passed the shops they loved to gamble at. 

Tezuka’s mouth twitched up at the side a little. “I’m not entirely sure that they meant it in that connotation.” he said, coolly. 

“Once it’s left your mouth, it’s up to the other person to interpret it, isn’t it?” retorted Echizen, cheekily. “No take backs.”

At this, Tezuka really did smile and Echizen grinned back in return, unable to help it. He looked so much younger when he smiled, way more like he could actually be in his twenties and sort of attractive too, despite the dust and dirt that covered them both. “Geez old man, all it takes is for someone to backtalk you to become young again?” he asked, cockily, wondering if the smile would return. 

Instead, Tezuka just shook his head, and picked up his pace, his feet leaving deep imprints in the golden sand as he strode ahead. Echizen muffled a groan and lifted his feet up, like uncooperative mules, trying to push himself forward with as much energy as he could muster, despite his dragging feet. 

He hated the fact that Tezuka could just avoid the subject by walking faster. If only he was taller. Echizen forced himself to keep pace with Tezuka, until they were walking abreast. Tezuka’s boots looked worn and rough against the sand and Echizen own sandals seemed feeble in comparison. Would he have been able to walk better with better shoes? He wondered, sometimes. 

“So, how do you even know where we’re going?” Echizen asked, as he squinted at the map. The map had letters and stuff on it, but there were hardly names and things written on the desert like they were written in the city roads. 

“The map says that we have to walk forty miles south-east. The exact degrees, actually, on the map. And I can follow that by using the stars.” said Tezuka, looking up at the night sky at the bright stars that illuminated their faces mildly. 

“Is that why we’re going at night? Not just the heat but the directions?” asked Echizen, as he looked over to where Tezuka was looking. The sky was beautiful out here in the desert, uncrowded by the buildings and the industrial fumes, but he hadn’t admittedly been paying much attention to it. “We’re following those three bright stars, right?” he asked, peering over to where Tezuka was looking.

Tezuka made an affirmative noise, not sounding terribly surprised by Echizen’s ability to pick up on that. “That’s correct. That’s the constellation of Orion and we are following Rigel in particularly, the brightest star.” he confirmed as they walked. “If I see Rigel, I know that we are in the right direction.”

Rigel. Echizen’s eyes followed the brightest star and nodded. He’d keep an eye on it for it from now on. “Even so, isn’t following a star risky? The stars move over the course of the night...” Echizen murmured, as he adjusted his hat on his head and his sandals over his bruised and abused feet. 

Tezuka looked a little more impressed, though not by much. “There is supposed to be an oasis next to Nefertiti’s tomb. The workers who constructed her tomb needed some sort of water source to be able to make her tomb. So once we see an oasis after walking forty miles, we know we have walked the right way. If we do not, then we must backtrack.”

It really did seem like such an imposing task. For all of Echizen’s bravado about the actual tomb, getting to the location was seeming more and more difficult by the minute. Echizen’s hand slipped to his pockets, pulling out the worn scrap of paper with the two hieroglyphics on them. Would his memorization of the way the letters looked even be useful? What if they never arrived at their destination?

There was a light touch to Echizen’s shoulder and Tezuka looked extremely awkward, as he squeezed Echizen’s shoulder and increased his pace to walk past the younger boy. Echizen didn’t bother to catch up this time around, smiling softly to himself, as he pushed the paper back into his pocket, and focused on walking again. 

-

Rubbing his eyes, Echizen yawned sleepily. It was the tenth day of walking and while Echizen was used to waking up with animals crawling around or even the necessity of sleeping at day to get jobs done at night, he still wasn’t used to the lingering heat of the sand at night nor the sand chafing against his feet. In Cairo, he had spent most of his day up in the rooftops, napping and observing targets and had rarely experienced much stamina drains. While he was an amazing sprinter and great at short-term acrobatics, he wasn’t made for these long-term hikes, and the strain was really evident in how difficult he was finding it to drop off. 

But, of course, Tezuka who climbed mountains (Echizen still didn’t know what those were) didn’t really seem all that fazed by the physical exertion exerted. He seemed more worried about the storm clouds decorating the horizon, frowning at them every other minute, despite Rigel still being clear and visible. 

“Hey, is rain so bad a thing?” asked Echizen.

“In the desert, yes.” said Tezuka. “If the clouds cover the stars, that’s one thing. But flash floods are common when there’s heavy rain. We may get severely off-course trying to find shelter with Rigel covered and flash floods.”

Well, that wasn’t helping Echizen’s doubts about ever reaching the tomb. “Alright then...” he said, quietly “How far are we from the tomb?”

The taller man’s eyes flickered down to his map. “We’re around six miles from the tomb. It would most likely to take another two days with how slow we have been walking these past few days, compared to the start of our trek.” A small jab at Echizen’s pain, yes, that was _so_ necessary. 

“But two days would mean rain.... What, you want to try and walk it all in a day?” asked Echizen, as he saw Tezuka’s face turn pensively towards the horizon. 

“If possible.” hazarded Tezuka, as he increased his pace. “But that would require harsh speeds and no pauses.” Harsh speeds, no breaks and a slowly diminishing water supply...yes this was really shaping out to be wonderful. Apologizing silently to his body, Echizen tugged at his pack’s straps and forced himself to keep up with Tezuka’s pace, focusing only on the sound of his two feet hitting the sand and seeing Tezuka’s own feet matching his pace. 

Despite the silence, he felt closer to Tezuka than ever, as they both suffered under the breakneck pace they were pushing themselves at. Mutual suffering was the best tool for commiseration after all, and with their breathing and steps in tune as they silently challenged each other to walk faster and with more direction, it was a sort of closeness that Echizen had never ever imagined feeling. 

Somewhere throughout the night, as the storm clouds grew darker and darker, blocking out the moon altogether, Echizen and Tezuka had started to grip each other for support as the storm only drew closer and closer. It was getting difficult for Echizen to think past the pain in his lower calves, but Tezuka’s arm was looped around his shoulders, pushing him forward and using him for support, and Echizen kept walking. 

The storm clouds rolled closer and closer, and Echizen wasn’t sure how much time had passed. Eventually the pain and the urge to stop walking had faded, to be replaced with a sort of blank mental state, where all his feet seemed able to do was walk, faster and faster, as small droplets of rain started trickling down around them. 

“How far?” asked Echizen, as the rain started to get a little heavier. 

Tezuka shook his head. “Keep going.” he said, shortly, his voice slightly pinched. Echizen accepted it, wordlessly, and the water dripped down his hair and his clothes. The chill started to set it in and he was shivering slightly as they pushed themselves forward, more and more, when suddenly, Tezuka’s grip on Echizen’s arm tightened. 

“Oasis...” he murmured and Echizen’s eyes widened as he too noticed the large palm trees and what already looked like a huge expanse of water. He didn’t think about how it was possibly stupid to run towards a large source of water during something that usually caused flash-floods, and seemingly, neither did Tezuka, as they both sprinted towards it, with strength they didn’t know they had. 

Echizen’s knees buckled at the edge of the oasis and both and Tezuka collapsed to the wet ground and reeds. Echizen started laughing, a little hysterically, as he tilted his face up to catch the raindrops on the edge of his tongue, relishing on the feeling of the cold rain against his hot skin. How the hell had they made it through the desert without dying? It really was a miracle. Even Tezuka had a slight smile on the edge of his lips, when Echizen caught his gaze from the corner of his eyes. 

Their eyes met for a moment and Echizen grinned at Tezuka, with abandon. “You’re relieved too, admit it.” he said, with a light smirk. 

Tezuka’s eyebrows rose a little, but his smile didn’t change, despite the rain fogging his glasses. “Perhaps. Or perhaps you are hallucinating.”

“If I’m hallucinating, so are you.” retorted Echizen, as he took off his hat, and wrung it of the water that was slowly seeping into it completely. Tezuka’s eyes shut for a moment, before his expression went back to the neutral expression that Echizen was more used to seeing. 

“We still need to set up, camp, come on.” said Tezuka, touching his arm, his face perfectly plain again. “A little more energy please, Echizen.” he said, as he heaved the slightly damp poles from the back of his pack and drove them into the ground a little above the oasis. Echizen pushed himself to his feet, with the smile still on his face.

-

With a groan, Echizen splashed some water on his face and rubbed at his sleep-crusted eyes. Every part of him hurt and he wanted to sleep for another day or two, but Tezuka had shook him awake in the morning, despite them marching at night and refused to let him stay in bed, no matter what faces Echizen pulled or plaintive whines he made. 

Still, it was quite a sight once Echizen was able to see properly. The rainstorm had stopped overnight and the whole desert looked completely different, especially around the plentiful oasis. There were green plants everywhere and there was a smell in the air that Echizen wasn’t accustomed to, like fruit and flowers. He yawned widely, as he scrubbed at his arms and tried to blink himself more awake. Tezuka had pulled off his shirt and was washing in the water of the oasis, a little further away from Echizen and Echizen mused that it was probably a good idea to do that. He pulled off his shirt and trousers, and waded out into the water, swimming a little through the relatively deep pool of water. The water was cold, cold, cold, but it woke him up at least and soothed his muscles a little. 

“You’re really skinny, old man.” said Echizen, as he popped up next to Tezuka and shook his damp hair out of his face. “You must have got fed as a kid, too. You should eat more, else you’ll fade into nothing.”

Tezuka looked unamused and continued to scrub at his arms, with a long roll of flannel, not bothering to answer Echizen’s remark. Echizen treaded water for a little, waiting to see if Tezuka would ever give him an answer, before clicking his tongue, and poking Tezuka’s pale stomach. Soft skin and quick location of bone. “It’s not muscle either. You have like no excuse.”

Tezuka’s stomach drew inward a little, to escape Echizen’s intruding fingers, and he turned a glare upon Echizen. Echizen grinned at seeing the slight weakness in Tezuka’s mask, before diving into the water, to swim away from Tezuka’s anger. He didn’t expect Tezuka to swim after him and tackle him in the water. With a surprised snort, Echizen let go of his supply of oxygen and the two of them surfaced, sputtering water everywhere. 

Echizen wiped his hair out of his face, as Tezuka’s face without glasses blinked back him, still looking just as stern. Echizen breathed heavily and shook his head. “You’re a fake old man.” he said, once he could speak without coughing. “So immature.”

“I’m twenty-two.” reminded Tezuka, as he swam back to the bank where his glasses were perched and Echizen snorted, a little incredulously. 

After he was dry and as Tezuka was getting dressed, Echizen looked around them. “So what, where is this tomb? There aren’t any pyramids.”

“Nothing like that would be here.” said Tezuka, as he buttoned his shirt up. “Look for a stone slab. You might have to feel for it, it may not be instantly visible.”

A stone slab. In a desert. How descriptive. Sometimes, Tezuka was a real bastard. Echizen rolled his eyes and stood up, stretching out his sore muscles. He ached everywhere and it was this sore sort of feeling that just stretched Echizen’s consciousness thin. He didn’t want to have to get down on his knees and feel for the tomb’s entrance: he didn’t think his knees would be able to take it. 

Still, he crouched down and patted along the floor, scattering the damp sand with some difficulty. This sucked and his hands were already getting caked with sand. Still, he felt a little happier as he saw Tezuka crouch down to take another section, and winced a little as he attempted to shift the sand around. Though honestly, Echizen was a little amused. The men at Tezuka’s house had thought that Tezuka couldn’t survive without Echizen in the desert. Honestly, it had been the other way around. Tezuka had known the desert like the back of his hand. But Echizen wasn’t a desert goer. He was a robber and this next part was where he was going to excel. 

If they could find the fucking entrance.

It was almost noon when Echizen growled and stood up, with a sulky expression on his face, His arms ached, his knees ached, his everything ached. “Are you sure there aren't two oases out here or something?” he asked, with a sulky tone. 

“I’m sure.” Tezuka said, evenly, as he brushed back a little of his hair, which looked a little sweaty, just like Echizen’s. “Would you like to take a break?” But there was a challenge there, so Echizen shook his head, and walked away, kicking the sand absently. Then he gaped, as his foot hit something hard. Stone slab. 

“Found it, Mr Tezuka!” he called, with a smug look. Ha! He’d found it before Tezuka. Tezuka’s mouth twitched up, in pleased recognition, before he clambered up, brushing the sand from his knees and reached for his backpack. “Let’s eat something before we go.”

Echizen nodded in quick agreement, as he pulled out some of the aish that he had, taking an extra large slice, to go with the dates and the kofta. Tezuka looked a little uncertain, as he glanced towards the tomb and Echizen rolled his eyes. “Don’t look like that. I know what I’m doing. Look, this thing probably had dead-ends, right? And you don’t have a map. So, we have to make one, without dying. It’s going to take energy. So you better eat.”

“Are you my mother now?” asked Tezuka, dryly, as he took another date and popped it into his mouth. 

“Nah. Not nice enough for that.” Echizen said, with a grin, inbetween mouthfuls of kofta. “So, you got paper in that huge backpack of yours?”

“Here.” Tezuka said, as he pulled out a huge torch as well, powered by the electricity that most of the streetlights in Cairo used. It looked bulky and had probably been heavy to carry around. But it was better than having fire inside the old tomb, wasn’t it? Tezuka dropped the paper on his lap, and passed the torch over to Echizen. 

Echizen’s eyes widened as he accepted it and almost dropped it from the weight. “Shouldn’t you carry this? I’m setting off the traps, aren’t I?” he said, his voice a little choked, as he gritted his teeth together and hoisted it up.

Adjusted the straps of his backpack, Tezuka took the torch back, with a nonchalance that really didn’t suit his thin frame and stood up, handing the paper to Echizen. Echizen glared suspiciously, as he pulled out the blotchy and smudged piece of paper from his pocket, to glance over the letters one last time. 

“We just going straight in?” asked Echizen. 

Tezuka nodded, as they both stared at the stone slab and together, pulled up at the slab, until it slowly rose to reveal a crude set of stairs leading into the darkness. It felt colder instantly and Echizen swallowed, a little nervously. 

“After you.” Tezuka said, and Echizen walked down into the darkness, nervously. 

The light quickly followed him as the two of them cautiously descended the stairs, looking for traps coming at them from the sides. Still, nothing came out at them , not until the last of the stairs faded away, leaving them at a large corridor. The corridors were dusty and covered in cobwebs, deep and old. Echizen wondered for how long these corridors had been empty. 

“Pull up your shirt.” said Tezuka, as he tied his kerchief around his mouth, and Echizen remembered belatedly that Yukimura had talked about the hematite powder that killed. He tugged off his shirt and vest, tied the vest around his mouth and nose, before rebuttoning his shirt. There. Safe. 

“Alright.” Echizen murmured, as they edged down the corridor, his eyes darting everywhere. “There’s a fork coming up soon.” 

“How do you know?” came the even voice behind him.

Echizen placed out a hand ahead of him. “Feel that light breeze?” he asked, turning his head back and wincing as he saw only light and not actually Tezuka. “Anyway, that’s always a good sign that something’s going to change.”

Sure enough, a fork in the turn. And the breeze seemed to be coming from his left, which meant that the right was probably a dead-end. He pulled out the paper that Tezuka had given him, and made a quick mark that indicated a left right fork, and placed an x at the right turn, before strolling towards the left turn, with headed narrowly downwards. 

“Careful, Mr Tezuka.” said Echizen, as he held his hand back to steady the both of them as they walked down. His eyes were pealed on the sides of the walls, but for now, it seemed completely bare. None of the symbols that Yukimura and Atobe had talked about. He frowned slightly. 

“Hey, how big are these tombs supposed to be, anyway?” the younger boy asked, as they walked along, slowly.

“Huge. Depending on how large the outside it, they can generally carry on for three times that size underground. Since this is entirely underground, it will be massive.” Tezuka explained, quietly and slowly, as they batted away some more cobwebs and narrowly avoided a line of spiders. 

“So...these symbols might not show up at all for the first part?” asked Echizen, as he looked around, his gaze trained on the area where the floor and the wall met, covered as those were with dust and loose plaster. If it was a larger-scale tomb, the frequency of the traps would decrease, right? Could they afford to go a bit faster?

“Don’t let down your guard.” was Tezuka’s only response and Echizen pulled a face. Slow and steady it was. 

It was slow progress, but somehow, Echizen managed to pick the routes that weren’t dead-ends every single time, by following the breeze. He was glad that they had managed to avoid the one hieroglyphic that had mentioned insects, because Echizen really didn’t like insects. That was why he’d hung out around the stray cats and rats, they always ate the big fat flies straight from the air for fun, which meant that Echizen had to deal with less insects. 

However, as they took one of the turns that felt the breeziest, Echizen held his hand back, suddenly, as he noticed the floor disappear. He pushed his hand back and Tezuka almost fell over, as they grabbed the wall for balance. “Pit.” said Echizen, shortly, as he glanced down the hole to stare at the gleaming spikes underneath. “That would be where the breeze is from.”

Tezuka nodded, as they edged back out to the fork and took the other turn, with Echizen careful to mark the change on his map, before his head was drawn up by a small intake in breath from Tezuka. Upon noticing, Echizen swore, loudly. The walls were covered in all sorts of hieroglyphics now. How was he supposed to spot those singular hieroglyphics that he didn’t really know to differentiate from?

Still, through the blaring light of the lamp, Tezuka looked somewhat content. There was no frown on his even face and Echizen sighed, softly. At least someone was happy about this, even if it was pretty useless for Echizen’s purposes. 

“They say anything useful?” asked Echizen slowing his own pace down to read the glyphs. Tezuka seemed to be doing the same. 

“It’s a story. The same story as was in Tutankhamun’s tomb, but this is better quality. The paint is still pristine.” Tezuka remarked, his voice soft. Echizen just nodded, before swearing as his mind caught up with him. “Boulder, boulder, don’t move!” yelled Echizen, quickly. His voice echoed in the structure and they both froze. Echizen scanned the floor around them, his eyes darting everywhere, as he carefully scattered dust with his toes. “Alright, it’s to your left in front of you, Mr. Tezuka.” said Echizen. “It’s a large panel, please don’t lose your balance and trigger it by accident.” he said, his voice a little choked in his throat, as he realized how close they had both been to activating it. If he hadn’t seen it....

Tezuka’s face was a little paler than usual, even with the light in his face and the handkerchief covering his lower face and Echizen just shrugged as they edged down the corridor for some more time, his eyes still peeled on the walls. 

“Echizen, duck.” said Tezuka sharply and Echizen dropped to the ground without even a second’s hesitation. Which was for the best, as a large sword launched over his head and clattered against the opposite wall. With a panicked sound from the back of his throat, he scrambled backwards until he was at Tezuka’s feet. With his preoccupation with the glyphs, he’d forgotten about Yukimura’s warning about the weapons. 

“Shall we clear off the route?” asked Echizen, as he pulled himself up, feeling a little embarrassed as his heartrate came down a little. Tezuka just nodded and Echizen picked up a part of the ceiling that had fallen out (and that was worrying in itself), and with a concentrated smile, he skipped it the whole way down the corridors, which triggered a plethora of weapons to come out from the walls. 

He felt Tezuka take a small step back and Echizen silently agreed. That was scary. The egyptians from the past were prepared and ready to kill anyone who wanted to rob from their queen. Still, he had this, and when his skipping stone finally stopped, he smirked. They’d managed to trigger all of the weapons with one stone. Nice. 

“Let’s go.” said Echizen, as they moved down the corridor, slowly and with even more caution. This wasn’t like normal robbing. No policeman was going to get him if he screwed up and he couldn’t talk his way out of jail by subtle threats and name-dropping. This was the real deal. He died if he got things wrong, and worse off, so would Mr. Tezuka. 

...where had that thought come from? Echizen’s life was always first...but then again, it would sort of suck if his client got injured when Echizen was supposed to be the best at his job. The ideal situation that Echizen was aiming for was for both of them to get out of this place unharmed, and he was going to make sure that Tezuka would have no problems. Right. 

“Glyph to your right.” Echizen warned, as he spotted it on the wall. “At the next turning, insects. Step carefully.” A small affirmative noise came from behind him and Echizen breathed out shakily, as he glanced along the floor. He really, really didn’t want to be ambushed by insects. Even if the original insects had died out a long time ago, insects reproduced like anything and there had to be food for them to survive there. If the other parts of the structures had survived for so long, he assumed that insects would as well. 

He couldn’t see a panel, despite the fork approaching. Echizen stopped entirely, and felt Tezuka bump into him, as he stopped himself suddenly. Where the hell was the glyph? Had they just missed it? That would be nice, wouldn’t it? But then again, Atobe had said it was always right at the fork, and he didn’t want to be careless and step on it, accidentally. 

“You see it?” asked Echizen, and there was a negative grunt from behind him. Bother. What did they do?

“Are you sure that what you saw on the wall was the sign for insects?” asked Tezuka, sternly and Echizen nodded, vociferously. He was totally positive, since he didn’t know all of the other letters. 

“Shine your light around.” said Echizen, his breath a little more heavy, as he glanced around the walls as well. Maybe it was there? Tezuka’s breath took a slight intake and he pointed the light down at their feet. “Echizen, your front foot is on the panel with the glyph.”

Echizen glanced down and stared at the foot which spanned two panels. Sure enough, if he shifted his front foot to the right by a fraction, he could see the edges of a glyph appear. Fuck. This was _bad_. “I think moving is a bad idea, don’t you?” asked Echizen, his voice a little choked. 

Tezuka’s only response was a small snort and Echizen exhaled, as he placed all of his weight back on his heel, and tried to take a step back with the other foot. “Move back a bit, Mr. Tezuka.” said Echizen, as he pushed his foot back until he couldn’t any more. He then leapt away and over the large panel with the glyph, to land closer to the fork, with bated breath. 

They both waited, blinking at each other from across the panel, but when no insects flew out at them, Echizen let his breath out, with a relieved sigh. He couldn’t see Tezuka’s mouth, but he was sure that the older man was smiling, from the way his eyes crinkled a little, as he too jumped over the panel. 

“This is impressive progress.” said Tezuka, with a nod. “Most people would have hit a serious obstacle before now.”

“I’m not most people.” replied Echizen, as he ducked down underneath the razor wire along the corridor and came out at the other side. “I’m the best.” He pulled down his mask momentarily to smirk at Tezuka, before pushing forward, down the corridor, with a lightness to his step when Tezuka’s only response was a soft affirmative noise. 

As they continued down the path, it became clear after sometime that they weren’t hitting anything. In fact, it was suspiciously lacking forks and traps. Echizen wondered whether he’d missed a sign on the walls, and his eyes fell to the floor as well, darting everywhere. He could only hope his visual acuity would allow him to spot anything before they ended up injured or dead.

“Hey, what’s that sign mean?” asked Echizen, as he pushed one hand back to stop Tezuka from moving, upon spotting a small glyph on the floor. 

The light focused to where Echizen was pointing and there was silence for some time. “I’ve never seen it before. But it looks like the word for end.” Tezuka answered finally, his voice slightly confused and angry about that confusion. End, huh? Did that mean the end of their lives, or the end of their journey? Wasn’t that the question?

Echizen pulled a face. They had been walking for a long time. But had they been walking for long enough to have ended their search? Tezuka had said these places were huge, after all. Or was the lack of traps an indicator that this was the final trap and that he should keep walking? Yukimura had said, however, that the razor wires meant that you were on the right path....

On or off? Right or wrong? Dead or alive? Well, there was only one way to find out. Echizen stepped forward onto the end sigil, despite Tezuka’s muffled sound of protest. There was a loud rumbling from around them, as if the place was going to collapse around them and Tezuka directed a furious glare at Echizen. Echizen gritted his teeth, and moved away from the panel, moving back towards the entrance. End of their lives, it was. 

“It was nice knowing you, Mr. Tezuka.” said Echizen, as nonchalantly as he could manage with his heart beating so fast, as he gripped Tezuka’s hand and pulled him back up the corridor. 

“Wait.” Tezuka barked, sharply, as he laced his fingers into Echizen’s and pulled him back towards where Echizen had made his fatal mistake. His surprise at this decision was so great that he didn’t react to being dragged back towards their potential doom. Echizen’s eyes widened as he spotted what Tezuka had seen. Was that a door?

It was. It was a door. It was the end of their journey, after all! The rumbling halted as the door was entirely opened and Tezuka and Echizen both peered inside, unable to believe that they had finally found what Tezuka was looking for. Inside, the large chamber was filled relic. Shining jewellery, pots and pans and expensive looking vases and what looked like very, very small sarcophagi. The walls were covered in painting, and in the centre of the room, was the sarcophagus of the Queen Nefertiti. 

Tezuka’s eyes were a little wide as he just took in everything he saw and Echizen grinned to himself, as he squeezed Tezuka’s hand, softly. “Shall we go in and be proper thieves, Mr. Tezuka?” he asked, with a little mischief to his tone. “In your fifty years of existence, I bet you’ve never seen anything like this.”

“Neither have you.” Tezuka said, coolly, recovering his composure quickly. “And I’m twenty-two.”

“Sure, sure.” Echizen agreed, easily and the glare which Tezuka directed towards him at that only made Echizen laugh, as he walked into the room of treasure. They’d done it. Now for the matter of getting all of this stuff _out_ again....

Good thing he’d made a map.


End file.
